Rafa Nadal suffered his first claycourt defeat in 23 matches and threatened to boycott next year's Madrid Masters if officials did not ditch the blue clay that players have labelled "too slippery" and only fit for "smurfs (to) play on".

After a shock 6-3 3-6 7-5 third-round defeat by fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, the French Open champion vowed not to return to the Masters event unless traditional red courts, which are slower and more suited to his game, were reinstated.

"The movements are very important for me and here I cannot move so I cannot hit the ball the way that I want," he said after squandering a 5-2 lead in the final set.

"The ATP and the tournament can do what they want," he added referring to the controversial innovation sanctioned by the governing body of men's tennis for this year's tournament.

"I tried my best to prepare but I wasn't good enough to adapt my game to this court.

"The only thing that I know is that if things continue like this I am very sad but next year will be one less tournament in my calendar."

Nadal's outburst was perhaps unsurprising considering he would have fancied his chances of beating Verdasco, the 15th seed, having won all 13 of their previous meetings.

However, an error-strewn performance ended the world number two's bid for a third straight clay title this season and deprived him of a chance to avenge his defeat by Novak Djokovic in last year's final.

Verdasco's success was all the more astonishing given that Nadal twice failed to serve out the match in the deciding set.

Verdasco broke his Davis Cup team mate's serve seven times in all, losing his own six times, and clubbed 31 winners to his opponent's 19.

A typically crashing forehand drive sealed victory on his second match point and he fell flat on his back on the court before kissing the clay and heading off to play a doubles match.

"I lost because I deserved to lose today," Nadal said. "Even when I was 5-2 ahead and I had a chance to close the match I didn't know how to do it. He played better than me and he beat me, that's it.

"If you put the Cincinnati tournament on grass just before the U.S. Open do you think people are going to be happy? I don't think so.

"That's a similar situation. It's not drastic I am just being consistent.

"I am not prepared to risk something happening next year if nothing changes.

"I am going to Rome now with maybe a bit of a lack of confidence which I don't deserve after all the work I have put in here. The colour has to change and it has to be a proper clay court."

Verdasco next plays Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, who was the first player into the last eight when he thrashed 12th-seeded Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-1 6-1.Reuters

"The movements are very important for me and here I cannot move so I cannot hit the ball the way that I want," he said after squandering a 5-2 lead in the final set.

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I tried my best to prepare but I wasn't good enough to adapt my game to this court.

Yeah!! When grass courts were turned glue courts, Nadal was so sad that he didn't even complain. But, wait, that was because he was able to adjust his game. Yeah ? The guy has never adjusted anything ! Things are adjusted for him ! Since when people stood 3m behind baseline at Wimbledon and won !

Actually, all of the above is not as a result of him so we shouldn't be criticising him for that. But why now when he should complain. Thats because he's just a selfish dude who was smiling mirthlessly/scornfully when courts were slowed down.

It's funny.... the only 2 players I see constantly having problems with this surface (slipping and all)... is Nadal and Novak! Seems like since they are the best 2 players in the world - they should have an advantage because it's not like they are playing on this surface and the other players are playing on something different. I mean - everyone is playing on the same surface - so shouldn't the 'better player' have an advantage? If the surface is too sllippery for Nadal - then how come it wasn't too slippery for Verdasco?...and so on..? I don't get it.

Well, interestingly enough they have been making all the surfaces in tennis slower and more along the lines of what Nadal likes, so I find it interesting when he does not like a surface and is vocal about it. He is lucky he did not play 15 years ago, shoot, even the grass plays more like clay now. Oh well, he is still the clay master, a loss on blue clay will not kill him.

Well, interestingly enough they have been making all the surfaces in tennis slower and more along the lines of what Nadal likes, so I find it interesting when he does not like a surface and is vocal about it. He is lucky he did not play 15 years ago, shoot, even the grass plays more like clay now. Oh well, he is still the clay master, a loss on blue clay will not kill him.

You are right Scott... 90% of the surfaces today are almost alike... (slow, high bounces, and slower)... I like variety. I didn't like it back in the 90s when everything was super fast and all we had was serve/ace/winner...but I do think we still NEED some surfaces like that today. We need variety. I have no problem with this tournament experimenting with the blue clay. We need innovations! I can actually see the ball better on the blue clay. Sometimes the way Nadal (and others) "whine" about the surfaces, you'd think the only way they can win is on an 'ideal' surface for them! Nadal complains about the Year-End surface in England saying the ball bounces too low...duh... we don't have to have all the surfaces to suite Nadal's ideal surface. I like the variety! I would hope he doesn't 'boycott' this tournament next year just because he's not happy with the surface.

Anyway - seems like the other players are adapting to this 'blue stuff'. Novak didn't play particularly well in his first match, but he's playing better today. Roger is looking better... Juan Martin is still in the tournament; Berdych; etc. So it can't be all that bad. We haven't really had a lot of major upsets yet (except for Nadal).

I would hope he doesn't 'boycott' this tournament next year just because he's not happy with the surface.

How can Nadal alone boycott the tournament ? I think he's trying to create an atmosphere such that the going blue will not transcend all other clay courts. However, I have to admit that the blue colour doesn't give one the feeling of clay.

I would hope he doesn't 'boycott' this tournament next year just because he's not happy with the surface.

How can Nadal alone boycott the tournament ? I think he's trying to create an atmosphere such that the going blue will not transcend all other clay courts. However, I have to admit that the blue colour doesn't give one the feeling of clay.

And the current grass courts doesn't give 'the feeling of grass'...and most of the hard courts doesn't give 'the feeling of hardcourt but clay", etc... we can go on and on. Again, it's not like they made the courts blue to 'upset' Nadal. He's doing a great job of that himself.

Nadal needs to play again as before, because then he'll never win a Grand Slam.

Say what?

This is Scrooge's reply from Christmas Carol (one of my early favourites):

"At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge," said the gentleman, taking up a pen, "it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and Destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir."

"Are there no prisons?" asked Scrooge.

"Plenty of prisons," said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

"And the Union workhouses?" demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"

"They are. Still," returned the gentleman, "I wish I could say they were not."

"The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?" said Scrooge.

Nadal threatens to boycott Madrid's controversial blue courts after crashing outBy Sportsmail ReporterPUBLISHED: 17:52 EST, 10 May 2012 | UPDATED: 17:56 EST, 10 May 2012 Comments (0) Share Rafael Nadal threatened to skip next year's Madrid Open on account of its controversial blue clay surface after he blew a 5-2 final-set lead to exit this year's tournament to Spanish compatriot Fernando Verdasco.Nadal fell 6-3 3-6 7-5 to Verdasco in a match lasting three hours and 11 minutes in what was Verdasco's first win over the world number two at the 14th attempt. Feeling blue: Rafael Nadal was unhapy with courtsBut Nadal was far from happy with the nature of the courts.Nadal told reporters: 'Being able to move is very important for me and if I can't move well, I can't hit the ball well either.'If things don't change, this will be one less tournament on the calendar for me.'This surface destabilises the game. It is a completely different game and I don't want to take risks.'Verdasco's reward for his epic victory is a quarter-final clash with Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych, who was a surprisingly comfortable 6-1 6-1 winner over Frenchman Gael Monfils.Top seed Novak Djokovic found it far from straightforward to reach the last eight but he avoided the fate experienced by Nadal as he battled past Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-6 (7/5) 6-4.Seventh-seed Janko Tipsarevic booked an all-Serbian quarter-final with Djokovic after coming through a three-set battle against Frenchman Gilles Simon 7-6 (7/3) 5-7 6-1. Overcome: Fernando Verdasco celebrates his victory against his compatriot Rafael NadalThird seed Roger Federer shrugged off his close-call in his second round match with Milos Raonic, as he swept aside French 14th seed Richard Gasquet 6-3 6-2 in just 58 minutes to reach the last eight.Federer's next opponent is fifth seed David Ferrer, who edged his all-Spanish battle with Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/5) 3-6 7-6 (10/8).Fourth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga went down 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7/2) to Alexandr Dolgopolov, and the Ukrainian will face Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarter-finals after he beat Marin Cilic 6-2 6-4.In the women's third round, Serena Williams shrugged off a nightmare first set to continue her fine recent form with a 1-6 6-3 6-2 win over Danish sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki.Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska beat Italy's Roberta Vinci 7-6 (7-1) 6-4, while there were also wins for qualifiers Varvara Lepchenko and Lucie Hradecka over Anabel Medina Garrigues and Ekaterina Makarova respectively.

It used to be some people want classic glass court back and classic high-speed hard court back. And now someone joint this complaint for clay court.I want to know what sorts of things ATP is trying to do in these 5-6 years and I want to know the final decision of major soponser of this event, Ion Tiriac.

I'm quickly loosing whatever respect I had for Nadal...Never really was a fan of him,but respected him as a great player.

But then, his abrupt departure from the players council, because he did not get support for the change in the ranking system he wanted, and now this...Everybody else seems to be doing ok with this surface.He blows a 5-2 lead, and it's because of the blue clay ??Didn't hear him complain when was up 5-2, serving for the match.....

DC, please do us a favor ... you have an access to the Internet. there are many free websites where you can learn English. Nadal is not 'it' ... most of the time I have no clue what you are talking about.

now, I really agree with both Dallas and Scott about different surfaces back in 90s or so. Rafa can't expect that everything will go his own way (the way he likes it). I'm not too delighted with blue clay (have some mixed feelings), it looks pretty but it's the same for everyone.